Passes the Bechdel test
Overboard
1987. Directed by Garry Marshall, written by Leslie Dixon.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 173. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Joanna and Grant Stayton III are an extremely wealthy, pretentious couple who live aboard their yacht. They live off of Joanna's family's money. She is a bitch of a woman, who treats others poorly and thinks nothing about doing whatever she needs to get what she wants, which she always gets. So when their yacht is moored in Elk Cove, Oregon and she hires local carpenter Dean Proffitt to do some work, she has no qualms of stiffing him the $600 for the job when it doesn't meet what she wanted, despite her not specifying the issue to him beforehand. When she and Grant sail out of Elk Cove, she falls overboard, the resulting injury which causes temporary amnesia. Grant sees this accident as his opportunity to ditch her. When news of a Jane Doe (Joanna) hits the local news and Dean sees that the person he knows as Grant denies knowing her, he also sees an opportunity: he will claim to be her husband and make her his housemaid - which includes her taking care of his four rambunctious sons - for about a month, which he considers the equivalent of what she owes him. "Annie" (what they end up calling her) is still a bitch of a woman. As time goes on, Dean has second thoughts about what he is doing, not because of Annie being like Joanna, but because he is falling in love with her and it seems like she is doing vice versa. Can their love overcome the obstacles of her equally pretentious mother looking for her, or the time when she will ultimately regain her memory?
- Released
- 16 Dec 1987
- Genres
- Comedy, Romance
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 53 / 100
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dean 302 lines, man
- Annie 184 lines, woman
- Joanna 99 lines, woman
- Grant 71 lines, man
- Billy 53 lines, man
- Travis 34 lines, man
- Greg 28 lines, man
- Edith 26 lines, woman
- Andrew 19 lines, man
- Charlie 13 lines, man
Full cast, 47 people
- Goldie Hawn as Joanna Stayton / Annie Proffitt
- Kurt Russell as Dean Proffitt
- Edward Herrmann as Grant Stayton III
- Mike Hagerty as Billy Pratt
- Katherine Helmond as Edith Mintz
- Roddy McDowall as Andrew
- Jared Rushton as Charlie Proffitt
- Jeffrey Wiseman as Joey Proffitt
- Brian Price as Travis Proffitt
- Jamie Wild as Greg Proffitt
- Frank Campanella as Captain Karl
- Henry Alan Miller as Dr. Norman Korman (as Harvey Alan Miller)
- Frank Buxton as Elk Cove: Wilbur Budd
- Carol Williard as Elk Cove: Rose Budd
- Doris Hess as Elk Cove: Adele Burbridge
- Ed Cree as Elk Cove: Thud Gittman
- Mona Lyden as Elk Cove: Gertie
- Lucinda Crosby as Elk Cove: Waitress
- Bing Russell as Elk Cove: Sheriff Earl
- Richard Stahl as Elk Cove: Hospital Psychiatrist
- Ray Combs as Elk Cove: Cop at Hospital
- Marvin Braverman as Elk Cove: Doctor at Hospital
- Tim Wright as The Wright Brothers Band
- Tom Wright as The Wright Brothers Band
- John McDowell III as The Wright Brothers Band
- Steve Walker as The Wright Brothers Band
- Israel Juarbe as The Yacht: Engine Room Crewman
- Robert Goldman as The Yacht: Crew Helmsman
- Keith Syphers as The Yacht: Crew
- Robert Meadows as The Yacht: Crew
- Julie Paris as Grant's Girlfriends
- Liz Stewart as Grant's Girlfriends
- Rielle Hunter as Grant's Girlfriends (as Lisa Hunter)
- Lisa Beth Ross as Grant's Girlfriends
- Erin Grant as Grant's Girlfriends
- Laura Fabian as Grant's Girlfriends
- Paul Tinder as Coast Guard Cutter: Coast Guard Captain
- Scott Marshall as Coast Guard Cutter: Coast Guard Spotter Lucas
- Bill Applebaum as Coast Guard Cutter: Coast Guard Friend
- Don Thompson as Coast Guard Cutter: Coast Guard Guy
- Héctor Elizondo as Garbage Scow Skipper (uncredited)
- Irena Ferris as Model - Dancing girl on deck
- Paul Fonteyn as The Yacht: Chef Paul (uncredited)
- Michael Shane Margolin as Bar Patron (uncredited)
- Garry Marshall as Drummer (uncredited)
- Sven-Ole Thorsen as Olaf, Stayton Flunky (uncredited)
- Wyatt Russell as Baby at Golf Course (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 173
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 6 | 4 |
| 5 to 8 | 16 | 20 |
| 9 to 12 | 19 | 18 |
| 13 to 16 | 2 | 1 |
| 17 to 20 | 7 | 26 |
| 21 to 24 | 6 | 3 |
| 25 to 28 | 2 | 3 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 6 |
| 33 to 36 | 17 | 46 |
| 37 to 40 | 10 | 9 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 27 |
| 45 to 48 | 22 | 32 |
| 49 to 52 | 12 | 14 |
| 53 to 56 | 1 | 0 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 68 | 5 | 26 |
| 69 to 72 | 7 | 22 |
| 73 to 76 | 4 | 11 |
| 77 to 80 | 4 | 11 |
| 81 to 84 | 13 | 19 |
| 85 to 88 | 13 | 4 |
| 89 to 92 | 16 | 12 |
| 93 to 96 | 6 | 3 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 0 |
| 101 to 104 | 7 | 25 |
| 105 to 108 | 7 | 4 |
| 109 to 112 | 22 | 24 |
| 113 to 116 | 6 | 5 |
| 117 to 120 | 13 | 46 |
| 121 to 124 | 20 | 42 |
| 125 to 128 | 3 | 8 |
| 129 to 132 | 5 | 2 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 3 | 10 |
| 141 to 144 | 5 | 6 |
| 145 to 148 | 13 | 5 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 6 |
| 153 to 156 | 3 | 0 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 5 |
| 161 to 164 | 14 | 8 |
| 165 to 168 | 5 | 10 |
| 169 to 172 | 7 | 7 |
| 173 to 173 | 0 | 0 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
EDITH: I couldn't wait for you to come see me, I had to be here What is this -- Lumberjack Chic? It doesn't work at all JOANNA: Nothing, Mother, our luggage was stolen in Nassau
JOANNA: Oh, it's .§..Q. good to be back! Oh, and here's my Moore! I stole this for one-seven! EDITH: Dear, are you feeling all right? JOANNA: Perfect! EDITH: You don't normally make love to the furniture.
JOANNA-: Please don't call me that. I feel like a Pomeranian. EDITH: Darling, for the past two weeks you haven't been your old self. JOANNA: I haven't? Well, that's one good thing. EDITH: And ... this chumming it up with the servants very bad form -- stop that!
ANNIE: Never mind! Come on! JOANNA: Get in!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 38 are women's.
321 lines from women, 530 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
10 women and 25 men in the cast. 5 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 904.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 47 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 43% of the words (3,726), men 57% (5,004). Women have 38% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
7
Two men
49
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Garry Marshall (man)
- Written by
- Leslie Dixon (woman)
- Produced by
- Anthea Sylbert (woman), Alexandra Rose (woman)
- Shot by
- John A. Alonzo (man)
- Edited by
- Sonny Baskin (man), Dov Hoenig (man)
- Music by
- Alan Silvestri (man)
- Cast by
- Joanne Zaluski (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
5 women, 7 men, 15 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 19 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 5 men, 13 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 6 men, 10 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 50 on average. Men: 30 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Goldie Hawn 42, Katherine Helmond 58
Men
Brian Price 12, Jamie Wild 12, Jared Rushton 13, Mike Hagerty 33, Kurt Russell 36, Edward Herrmann 44, Roddy McDowall 59
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $22 million
- Box office
- $26.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 173 scenes and 904 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
